


on the corner of fifth and madison (i met you for the first time)

by LostOnMyRoad



Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, M/M, Not MCU compliant, Peter Parker: New York Cabbie Extraordinaire, Secret Identity, also starring local disaster Johnny Storm, but also the sinister six are up to some wild shit in the background, don't mess with M.J., i wrote this fic solely to have peter and johnny do the one black coffee exchange, romanticising New York, think superhero buddy cop adventure with identity porn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostOnMyRoad/pseuds/LostOnMyRoad
Summary: “Peter Benjamin Parker,” M.J starts, looking like she’s won the lottery. “This is the best coincidence of all time.”Then she takes a photo and texts it to Harry. “You know,” she says, rather thoughtfully, “me and Harry both thought you’d choose being a stripper as your second career path, when you got tired of Jameson never giving you a raise.”Peter resigns himself to being called ‘Daddy Long Legs’ in the group chat for the foreseeable future. (M.J. says it’s because his favorite hero is Spider-man, and he’s got legs for miles.) He slams the brakes extra hard when she’s putting on her lipstick to get revenge.--------Or, the one where Peter becomes a taxi driver to make ends meet, because being Spider-man isn’t cheap. Johnny has his driving privileges revoked by Sue. Paths cross.Along the way--busting rogue scientists, the looming threat of the Sinister Six, and the struggles of keeping a secret identity from everyone around you.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, Reed Richards/Susan Storm (Fantastic Four)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 136





	on the corner of fifth and madison (i met you for the first time)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back on my spideytorch bs after nearly 10 months, sorry y'all. But this fic will be multichaptered!!! (Hopefully)
> 
> This has been in my google docs titled “ride or die” for the longest time because I couldn’t resist a shitty driving pun
> 
> This was written by someone who has never been to New York or ridden a cab there before, and therefore has no idea what the accuracy of this fic is. Apologies in advance.

There’s a notice posted to his apartment door when he wakes up in the morning. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Peter skims it in the dim light of the morning. He sighs when he’s done, squinting to ensure he isn’t having an inconvenient dream. His rent has gone up for the third time, and Peter seriously considers moving from New York. Maybe to some place like Kansas, where alien attacks aren’t a weekly occurrence and he can get some goddamn peace and quiet. The world just really has a vendetta against New York, he thinks--or maybe the Avengers are just attracting trouble. Or did the Avengers become attracted to the aliens? It’s a what came first, the chicken or the egg situation--and no matter what the answer is, New York is still royally fucked.

He sighs, ripping the notice off his door and slamming it shut. Grabbing the last of the bread and jam, he methodically makes himself a sandwich, mulling over his current situation.

Peter’s always been on the verge of being broke. Usually the job with the Bugle manages allows him to make rent, but with the cost of web-fluid eating away at his budget and all the repairs to the suit, he hasn’t quite been able to save up. Asking Jonah for a raise would be like pulling teeth, or getting Stark to admit he’s wrong. Quitting the Bugle has empirically not worked out for him, however--so that leaves another part time job. Stark might give him a job, and he could ask the Avengers for some connections, he supposes--except the whole secret identity thing would get in the way. 

The idea hits him (almost literally and certainly metaphorically) just outside the Bugle, ironically. He’s late (as usual) and narrowly avoids being hit by a taxi as he’s crossing the street. 

“Watch it!” the driver yells as he’s going by, cursing all the while. “What are ya, blind?”

And Peter gets an idea.

\---------------------------

As soon as he’s done dealing with Jonah that day, he sticks his head into one of the cabs and asks the driver where to go to get hired. The guy gives him directions around the cigarette in his mouth, smoke curling out the open window. 

“Head over to Meera’s garage,” he rasps, shaking the cigarette so the burnt end crumbles to the pavement. “She was looking for new drivers, last I heard.”

So Peter finds Meera’s garage. There’s a couple of cars inside, a schedule for the drivers, and tools set around for fixing the cars, presumably. A woman is leaning over one of the taxis, and from the back Peter can only see her thick black hair, in little braids that go down to her waist. She turns when he knocks on one of the workbenches, and he gets a view of her face, tan and looking semi-annoyed. 

He’s been on the receiving end of that looks enough times to know it means  _ speak up before I throw you out with my bare hands.  _ Jonah has given him a lot of practice with it.

“Heard you were looking for drivers,” he stutters. Meera raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “I can drive?” He crosses his fingers behind his back.

He has a license and he can technically drive. Uncle Ben had seen to that, though immediately after Peter offered to drive him anywhere he suddenly remembered that gas is expensive and that they should probably take the bus. Besides, no one wants to drive in New York traffic. Point is, he can drive. Somewhat.

Meera walks past him and slaps the roof of one of the taxis in for repairs. 

“Alright,” she shrugs. “Show me what you got.”

Ten minutes later, she’s yelling at him for what she deemed “the worst driving in the history of driving” and Peters is glad she’s never met Johnny. She’d probably kill him. Peter fully expects to be thrown out of the garage, but instead Meera pinched the bridge of her nose and pulled him out of the driver's seat and shoved him into the passenger section.

“I’m gonna teach you how to drive so you don’t kill anyone in the future,” she says, sounding so determined that he can hear Cap in her voice. “If you make me regret this you’ll never find a taxi in this city again.” Peter swallows. In some ways, she’s scarier than Cap, because Cap at least would end Peter gently. He gets the feeling Meera would do it as painfully as possible.

After instructing him on how to properly conduct a car, Meera parks in the garage and pulls him out again. She gets him in the driver's seat, explaining, “Your interview starts now. You make any mistakes and you do not come back. Ever.”

She crosses herself before getting into the passenger seat, and Peter can’t even find it in himself to be offended.

Halfway through the drive, his Spidey-sense goes off—a low buzz, getting more and more urgent, until he jerks the wheel to the side, abruptly changing lanes. Meera’s “What—“ is cut off by the sound of metal shrieking, as the car that had been in the lane they had just been driving through swerves suddenly, nearly taking out the vehicles around it. If they’d been there for a second longer, they’d have been hit.

Peter gets a good look at the driver as they continue down the road—it’s Johnny. Johnny fucking Storm. 

Of course.

They’ve always been buddies in costume, grabbing a burger on the Statue of Liberty or fighting crime together. But they’ve never met in civvies before. Even Daredevil (or Matt, he insists on having Peter calling him Matt) tells him he takes the secret identity schtick way too seriously.

He can see Sue yelling at Johnny from the passenger's seat, so he assumes that other New York drivers will get to live another day once his driving privileges are revoked.

Surprisingly enough, he gets hired.

When they pull back into the garage, Meera gives him a once over before shrugging. “You got some potential,” she admits, mulling him over. “Yeah, you got that roadside intuition. You’re hired.”

Huh. So now he has the Human Torch and his Spider-sense to thank for his second job. 

Strange, how the world works.

————————

After his hours at the Bugle are finished, everyday he comes to Meera’s garage and spends a couple hours picking up and dropping off people from all over New York.

He makes friends with the other drivers, like the man who’d pointed out Meera’s garage, who’s name is Dylan. Some of the ladies, such as Adalia and Amvi, who share their Menudo and Biryani respectively. Asmar told him stories about his wife, and Kehinde offered him strips of biltong and pointed out routes he could take.

The passengers are no less interesting (though they tend to be less kind.) One woman tried to pay him in iron man merch (why?) while another sang him a song from the back and tipped him 50% because he didn’t complain.

The worst and best ride is when he accidentally ends up picking up M.J from her audition. She slides into the cab, holding out a slip of paper with her address on it, when they both make eye contact in the rear view mirror.

“Peter Benjamin Parker,” she starts, looking like she’s won the lottery. “This is the best coincidence of all time.”

Then she takes a photo and texts it to Harry. “You know,” she says, rather thoughtfully, “me and Harry both thought you’d choose being a stripper as your second career path, when you got tired of Jameson never giving you a raise.”

Peter resigns himself to being called ‘Daddy Long Legs’ in the group chat for the foreseeable future. (M.J. says it’s because his favorite hero is Spider-man, and he’s got legs for miles.) He slams the brakes extra hard when she’s putting on her lipstick to get revenge.

Life goes on.

—————-

And then he hits a speed bump, in the form of one Johnny Storm.

He’s just dropped a nice college student interning at the Baxter building off when he hears someone yelling “Taxi! Taxi!” and lets them in. He swivels around to ask for an address and sees none other than the Human Torch himself.

Peter somehow manages to hide his surprise, and reminds himself that Johnny has no idea what he looks like in civvies.

He’s panting, looking sweaty and somehow still unfairly hot. Johnny rattles off an address and Peter starts before he can think too much about it. Johnny starts talking, and he doesn’t shut up once he’s started. He’s on the tail end of the story of how Sue banned him from driving (“and it wasn’t my fault that I was distracted, if anything Reed is just as much at fault here as I am, I mean he was trying to show me his x-ray vision goggles, which i wanted to try out—“) when they reach his destination. Johnny shoves a fistful of bills into his hand and practically flies out the door, tossing a “Thank you” back at him.

Peter slumps forward and lets his head hit the steering wheel. He hits the horn by accident, scaring off the pigeons that had gathered by the front of the car.

————---

Because his life is a cosmic joke, he meets Johnny in the Spider-man costume later that night. The villain-of-the-week is Electro. Peter seriously wonders if his villains draw sticks to decide who’s going to terrorize New York that day.

Johnny is burning bright, blazing through the night sky like a star going nova--or at least that’s what it feels like, the two of them following Electro on a high speed goose chase around Brooklyn. Peter swings after him, following the warm glow of his light as Johnny flies through the air like a comet. He’s always loved this, the way his stomach drops as he arcs through the air on his webs, and Johnny being there adds something extra to the night.

They’ve only teamed up in drastic situations before, like the alien invasion that had occured last year (Peter’s lived through multiple alien invasions now, thank you New York) so they have a passing familiarity.

“Hey, Glowstick!” Peter calls out as Electro aims a blast of the roof they’re on. Johnny barely dodges the stray lightning, yelping as his costume is singed slightly. 

“Glowstick,” The Human Torch mutters, “Real creative.”

Peter curses, shooting webbing at Electro, who just cackles maniacally and burns it as it approaches, before extending a hand and sending a shock of lightning through the air from his palm. The air smells of ozone, and he can feel the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up as thousands of volts of electricity course through the air.

The roof is no longer a safe place to be, so he makes the split second decision in order to avoid becoming a barbequed spider--jumping off.

He’s no stranger to falling, but this is a bit much. He can almost remember what vertigo feels like as window after window of the skyscrapers nearby pass him by as he falls. He tries shooting a web, but there’s too much momentum and it snaps without stopping his fall. So continues heading for the street below. He falls.

And falls.

And falls.

_ (MayI’msosorryIdon’twanttodieHarrypleaseforgivemeIcouldn’tsave--) _

And then collides with something that isn’t the pavement below. He and Johnny go crashing through the window, glass shattering everywhere. Johnny manages to peel himself off hardwood flooring first, immediately hovering over him. He slaps Peter, babbling “are you ok I saw you fall I wasn’t thinking are you dead Sue’s going to kill me--” before Peter groans and straightens up, waving off Johnny’s attempts to help.

“You saved me,” he wheezes, “thanks.”

He’s more used to being alone than he thought.

Johnny grins and looks embarrassed, for some reason. Peter entertains the idea of it being the rumored crush that the Torch has on Spider-man, supposedly--but that information had come from Tony in one of his more inebriated moments, and Peter doesn’t trust it, even if Stark is a high-functioning alcoholic. ( _ You don’t trust anyone _ , the voice in his head that sometimes sounds like Uncle Ben nags.  _ No hero has seen you out of costume _ .)

So no, Johnny’s probably just embarrassed about his slight (highly understandable) freakout over Spider-man almost dying on him.

Electro gets away, not before taking a couple thousand dollars from a nearby bank and some equipment from a mechanic’s place on the same street. Disappointing, Peter thinks, as he and Johnny help the emergency crews gathered on the street. Johnny’s serving as a nightlight, mostly, since the streetlights had gone out from the sudden flood of voltage. The Torch makes sure he can swing home before jetting off to Baxter Building, presumably.

Peter resolves to catch Electro after his driving shift tomorrow.

\-------

And yet somehow, because fate is cruel, he ends up becoming Johnny's default taxi.

He’d been outside the Baxter Building after dropping off a rather harried looking scientist, a woman with curly brown hair who looked incredibly anxious the whole ride. As he’d been about to pull away from the curb a familiar voice sounded out. Johnny spilled into the backseat of his cab, rattling off directions again, finger combing his hair and buttoning his shirt. 

For the second time that week, they make eye contact through the rearview mirror, and Peter can’t help snorting. 

“What, did you get dressed in the dark?” It comes out of his mouth before he can stop it. 

Johnny scowls immediately. “You’re that guy from last time. I was almost late because of you.”

Peter splutters. Johnny had seemed so nice and  _ reasonable  _ during their smackdown against Electro. “You made me cut across three lanes of traffic!”

Johnny grumbles something unflattering under his breath.

It starts as an accident—Peter just happens to end up outside the Baxter building a lot—and so Johnny catches ride after ride with him, until he misses a day (Jonah had rampaged through the office after another newspaper had gotten the latest spidey scoop ahead of him, until Betty Brant had reminded him that his blood pressure was probably higher than it should be and that he couldn’t micromanage if he was in the hospital. This had brought him down from fever pitch to a low boil) and Johnny actually seems to have missed him. 

They’ve probably given each other Stockholm Syndrome. 

Peter’s started becoming oddly fond of Johnny, annoying as he is. And then one day he cements his position as Johnny’s favorite driver. 

As usual, Johnny is stumbling into the cab in an effort to be on time to wherever he needs to be (sometimes it's a gala that the Fantastic Four are attending, other times its to pick up items for Reed Richards)

“I’m gonna be late,” he says biting his lip (which absolutely isn’t hot, no, Peter, no) and he seems genuinely distressed. “Sue’s gonna kill me.” 

Peter shudders. Johnny must have some survival instinct left in him. Sue is terrifying.

Johnnys grown on him, like some kind of fungus. A highly flammable mold. Meera’s gonna yell at him for violating traffic violations again, but oh well.

“You aren’t gonna be late,” he smirks.

Johnny slides into the car, while voicing his denials. “You aren’t spider man dude, how are you planning on skipping rush hour?”

Oh Johnny, if only you knew.

When Johnny buckles himself in and raises an eyebrow Peter slams the gas pedal.

He’s pretty sure he broke about five traffic laws and what little of Meera’s trust in him that remained and scratched the car, but they made it. Johnny had stopped screaming five minutes into the ride and had stopped whimpering about five minutes ago, so Peter turns around to check whether he’s still alive. 

Johnny stares back at him, eyes wide and curled into the fetal position on his seat. 

“That was the hottest thing i’ve ever seen you do,” he manages in awe, and Peter stares back at him because  _ what the fuck? _

Johnny gets out of the car on wobbly legs like a newborn deer, and salutes him before stumbling up the stairs to the gala entrance. 

So Johnny becomes a regular, because apparently he finds Peter’s suicidal driving tendencies promising. He has a few others who come regularly (the anxious curly-haired lady and a couple low-key socialites) but none as often as Johnny. Which is not good for Peter’s fragile walls. Because in and out of costume, Johnny is fun to be around, snarky yet sweet. His identity is going to slip at any second now. Once, he’d forgotten to take the suit out from under his cardigan, and had to explain it away as pajamas. How Johnny believed him, he’s still not sure. 

Peter wonders how long he can keep his identities separate. And keep him and the people around him safe.

After all, he’s already failed with Harry.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment, any criticism/something you liked/any commentary is welcome!!!  
> Bother me on tumblr (I have the same username)


End file.
